Bilal Zuberi

How dispossessed must all the newspaper-reading, not-so-upper class, citizens of Pakistan must feel when they read about the recent allocation of dozens of expensive plots of land to federal secretaries and other bureaucrats? There are families who work tirelessley for years, just to own their own Bhains, their own supari shop, and their own little flat in an inner-city apartment building. And then read how already corrupt bureacrats are are “awarded” plush plots as “bonus” payments.

In a recent news report in The Daily Times, PM Shaukat Aziz has directed that more than 80 plots of land be allocated to high ranking officers in the government.

Establishment Division Secretary Tariq Ali Bukhari confirmed that he had received new orders from the Prime Minister Secretariat to submit the plot allotment summary to the PM for the remaining 36 federal government officers. Earlier, Aziz had issued plot allotment directives for the grade 22 secretaries at the behest of the Secretaries Committee.

The prime minister has ordered that D-12 sector plots be allocated to every federal secretary (grade 22) who has held the position for the last 14 months.

Roshan Malik

Bahawalpur State (1833-1955) has a unique architecture blended with Italian style. It was comprised of three districts (Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan). The last ruler Nawab Sir Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V ruled the State (1907-55) before it merged into the unitary province of Pakistan. The State reached the zenith of its glory under his rule, as he transformed Bahawalpur into an excellence of learning and centre of architecture. Various schools, colleges, palaces, mosques, hospitals and a library and university were built during his time.

Since ATP readers have already been talking about Bahawalpur architecture through the Photo Quiz on Noor Mahal and then again on the Baghdad-ul-Jadeed Railway station, it makes sense to talk about this scope and history of this architectural heritage at greater length.

Adil Najam

Following up on our earlier post on Dengue Fever in Pakistan, maybe I was wrong about the extent of public health awareness after all.

There is very little that I can add to the facts included in the caption of this photograph in the Dawn today (7 November, 2006):

“The sewage and all kinds of garbage accumulated behind the special isolation ward for dengue fever patients in the Jinnah Hospital mocks at the government claim of having taken measures to contain mosquito borne disease.”